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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Blastoise/Keldeo EX - The comeback of Raindance

O Raindance, where art thou?

Hello everyone!

Today, I’m going to take a look at a deck that can be called old school,
because it has so many predecessors in the past formats. Rain Dance –like
Abilities have been around from the Base Set and they have always been
tournament-winning concepts. I expect nothing less from the new Boundaries
Crossed Blastoise – even though its Ability’s name is Deluge, not Rain Dance.

Blastoise has been one of the most discussed cards of BC ever since it was
released in Japan, because of its history. However, it hasn’t really been that
successful in the Japan. What is the reason behind this and is it going to
break its way to the tier1 in the west? I’ll answer these questions and more in
this article. I’ll take a look at many different Blastoise variants and discuss
which techs are the best and why.

Probably the best part of Blastoise’s evolution line is Squirtle. Thanks to
Squirtle, Blastois can be called as a direct counter against Landorus EX. Not
only is Landorus EX weak to Water, but Squirtle’s ability prevents all the
damage done to Squirtle when they are on the bench. So, unlike against other
stage decks, Landorus EX isn’t able to get multiple KOs in two turns with
Hammerhead, because you’re able to prevent the bench damage. Same goes with
Darkrai EX.

The Squirtle’s ability is huge for many reasons. If your opponent has run out
Catchers, cards like Raikou EX can’t take a prize for it.Squirtle is very rarely a free prize when you
play it on your bench. Squirtle by itself makes Blastoise jump a one tier higher
than it would be with a standard Basic Pokémon.

Keldeo EX

Keldeo EX is the main attacker of most of these decks. It’s good for two
main reasons:

First, let look at the stats: Keldeo EX has a whopping 170 HP; which any
EX-Pokémon is more than happy to have. It’s funny that in the current format it makes
almost no difference if you have 170 or 180 HP, you’ll never get OHKOed, but
you’ll always get 2HKOed. Keldeo EX is also weak to Grass, which is a type that
is almost non-existant in the current format. The only real threat to Keldeo EX
is Shaymin EX; which only some Hydreigon variants play. However, Shaymin EX can
be teched in almost any deck with right kind of Blend Energy, so it will
probably see a small increase in play if Keldeo EX becomes a real contender in
the metagame.

Keldeo EX’s attack is interesting, because it practically can’t OHKO anything
that isn’t weak to Water, but it easily 2HKOs everything. If you can get a T2
Keldeo EX running with the help of Blastoise, you’re in a very strong shape,
because Keldeo will start a prize race, where the healing cards are in the key
position to change the course of the game. All the stage decks are pretty much
the same: manipulate energy and then don’t get OHKOed. This applies to
Eelektrik, Hydreigon and now to Blastoise.

Keldeo EX’s Ability is however the THING in it. It lets you switch any your
active Pokémon with Keldeo EX. So simply put, your every Pokémon has a free
retreat as long as you want to change Keldeo EX to the active spot. And it’s
pretty obvious that a Blastoise with retreat of 4 really appreciates this kind
of Ability. This opens so many slots from your deck since you don’t have to
stress about Switch and this is what makes Blastoise playable with Keldeo –
free spots open more spots for consistency. Due the consistency that these
spots open, you are able to play various techs in Blastoise decks as I’ll later
on introduce.

Mewtwo EX

Mewtwo EX can be counted as a tech in this deck, but in the end it’s a
staple. The reason why it’s a staple or at least should be a staple in any deck
relying on Blastoise, is that all the attackers you play in a Blastoise deck
require a lot of energy. And there is nothing better against attackers with a
lot of energy than Mewtwo EX. And what’s the best card against Mewtwo EX?
Mewtwo EX of course!

It’s also good to notice that Blastoise can very quickly make your Mewtwo EX
also a very strong attacker. If your opponent doesn’t for some reason play
Mewtwo EX (which shouldn’t be possible), your Mewtwo EX can become a lot deadly
than your Keldeo EXs. However, loading a lot of energy on your Mewtwo EXs is
always risky, because your opponent can drop any time the DCE + Mewtwo EX down
and KO your fully loaded Mewtwo EX with only one X-Ball.

Professor Juniper – Bianca – Cheren

Juniper is the best draw supporter in the game. Every single deck in the
format needs to play it in order to be really competitive. And when it comes to
energy accelerating stage decks, Bianca is also a must play. It draws a lot
thanks to heavy Item counts and Ultra Balls and most of all, thanks to
Blastoises Ability, which is able to get rid of every single Water energy in
your hand. All of these things combined, Bianca is your number 2 supporter just
after Juniper.

I use Cheren in this skeleton just, because this deck deeply enjoys straight
draw. You want to draw into Candys and Blastoise at the same time and N-like
shuffle & draw cards aren’t that optimal for that.

N

N is a double-edged sword in any deck that accelerates energy from their
hand. In the early game it’s a very good draw card, because it lets you refresh
your hand and if you have Blastoise in play, you’ll be getting through your
deck almost as well as with Juniper. However, in the late game Ns are nothing
but a nuisance for you. You don’t want to use your Ns in the late game, because
you’ll draw dead from them and when your opponent Ns you into 1-2 cards, you’d
better topdeck well or have a great set-up at that point. N was enough to make
any Emboar variant unplayable (excluding MagneBoar), but it doesn’t make
Blastoise completely unplayable. N is still the only real shuffle&draw in
the format, so it’s a must in this deck even though you wouldn’t want to play
it. Also, it’s good to remember that as you’re playing with a stage2 deck,
you’re the one that usually gets the advantage of N in the early game.

Ultra Ball

Ultra Ball is the only right choice for Pokémon searching even if you don’t
energy accelerate energy from the discard pile. The reason for this is that the
usual Pokémon amount in the current meta’s decks are very low. This makes
Pokémon Communication unplayable and as Ultra Ball is the only Ball that can
search for any Pokémon from your deck – it’s the obvious choice. Just be
careful what you want to discard.

Computer Search

To be honest, Gold Potion couldbe a
playable ACE Spec in this deck since the deck’s strategy is to keep the
attackers with a lot of energy alive. However, the reason why I think Computer
Search is the staple ACE Spec. for this deck is that Computer Search should be
played by every single stage2 deck if they want to succeed. It adds so much
consistency for decks that long for the Rare Candy in T2 that you can’t really
afford losing the T2 Blastoise if you want to win any games.

Rare Candy

Four of these – surprise? No. Any other option? No. It’s already very
difficult to be a stage2 deck in the current format and in order to be even
nearly competitive, you need to maximize the odds to get your stage2 Pokémons
in play as soon as possible. With max Ultra Ball, Computer Search and Max Rare
Candy, you’ve maximized the odds for that prudently. However, is it enough?
That’s the question that remains until Cities start.

Pokémon Catcher

No real reason to even explain this. Pokémon Catcher is a must for any deck
trying to win games. However, as you will see in this entry, one of the
variants play fairly low amount of Pokémon Catchers –for a good reason.

Heal Cards

Every deck in the current format that energy accelerates bases their
strategy on healing, Hydreigon and Eelektrik both rely on Max Potion. Also,
even the Basic decks may run Potions or Max Potions. Blastoise/Keldeo EX
variants are no exceptions.

The interesting thing about Blastoise variants is that they may want to play
Super Scoop Ups as well as Max Potions/Potions/Gold Potion. The reason for this
is the energy acceleration from hand. Even though SSU is a flip card, it’s very
good in a deck like this, because you can get the energy from your attacker
back to you hand and attach them to another of your attacker. This makes the
Blastoise deck a bit more versatile thus making it more dangerous at the same
time. Just imagine SSU:ng a 4 energy Keldeo EX and playing down Mewtwo EX and
attach all of those energy to the new Mewtwo EX. With only 2 more energy, it
would be able to OHKO a Darkrai EX.

This is THE standard build of this deck. No big techs,
no huge tricks, just consistent Blastoise/Keldeo/Mewtwo EX with optional
healing cards. The draw supporter amount (13) is enough since I also have 1
Computer Search and 3 Ultra Balls. Earlier, I discussed about the importance of
4 Ultra Balls, but as this list already so consistent, I decided to sacrifice 1
Ultra Ball for getting good match-ups against most deck (i.e. place for Tool
Scrapper).

This deck’s worst enemy is by far any Garbodor variant. Especially if the
Garbodor variant is able to spread damage with e.g. Registeel EX. The deck is
fully reliant on Abilities. It doesn’t really matter if you want to accelerate
energy on your Pokémon or retreat the active Blastoise, you need to have
Abilites for that. At least 2 Tool Scrappers is a must for this deck if you
want to survive in a metagame with Garbodor in it.

One thing that also needs probably some explanation is the 2-2 SSU-Max Potion
line. Even though Super Scoop is pretty much the best heal card in this deck
due its versatility, which I explained earlier, it’s still a flip card. And do
I want to rely on flip when it comes to preventing my opponent to take the last
prize? No, I don’t. However, I can’t deny the fact that when SSU hits heads, it’s
SO good. That’s why I’ve decided to go with a 2-2 line. In playtesting, I’ve
found myself drawing Max Potions and SSUs occasionally at the wrong time, but
mainly the split has worked very well. When you just need to prevent your
opponent taking a prize – use Max Potion – if you want to replace your energy,
use SSU.

Before Keldeo and Blastoise were released, many people
associated Water immediately with Kyurem since it was the only playable Water
Pokémon for a long time. However, thanks to Blastoise and Keldeo EX, Kyurem has
found some new friends. It’s also good not to forget Kyogre EX, which was found
in the U.S. Nationals this year. The common factor in Kyurem and Kyogre EX is
that they both spread damage. Spread hasn’t been in fashion for a long time,
but thanks to the new cards in the Boundaries Crossed, it just may come back to
fashion.

As you can see, there is also our very good friend Ditto, which helps us to get
the deck working properly. Not only it helps in getting Blastoise up as soon as
possible, but it also has a great role in getting Dusknoir to play when needed.
Ditto can also be turned into any Basic tech, so it’s a very versatile card in
this deck. Dusknoir is highly important for this deck, because it’s the very
reason why spread decks just might be playable again. When you hit with Kyurem
and your opponent has a full bench, you do 180 damage!! That’s a lot. And just think
what can you do with this 180 damage when you have Dusknoir in play – KO in any
Pokémon. The great thing about spread is that your opponent can’t really heal
the damage off. They can Max Potion their Pokémon, but who in their right mind
would Max Potion 30 damage? No one, really. And that’s why spread is SO good
with Dusknoir. Also, the deck only plays 1-0-1 Dusknoir line and that’s why the
deck has 2 Super Rods and 2 Skylas.. You need and want Dusknoir at some point
of the game.

Spread is also good even though you wouldn’t be getting Dusknoir into play.
Spreading 50 and 50 with Kyogre EX can turn any EX-Pokémon easily KOable for Mewtwo
EX or Keldeo EX. Weakening your opponent’s Pokémon with spread attacks is a
very prudent strategy especially if your opponent has a big bench. It gives you
the key for continuous KOs.

The low amount of Catchers may stand out of the crowd, but I think you already
know the reason for this. Dusknoir is able to manipulate the damage counters,
so you just need to put the damage on the field and then rearrange it. However,
you don’t want to play WITHOUT Catchers, because you’ll miss them. Every deck
wants to play 4 Catchers, but this deck doesn’t need to. And since I needed to
find more space for techs and consistency, taking Catchers off the list has
worked very well so far.

Thanks to Blastoise attaching energy to any Pokémon
and not just Water Pokémon, there are many techs, you may want to consider in
this deck, if you’re looking for more adjustable version of Blastoise. Here is
a small example list of them:

The current format, doesn’t really offer that much possibilities for really
playable tech cards for this deck. That’s why the tech build isn’t necessarily
the most optimal Blastoise build. Even if you like techs, it’s probably more
prudent to put single tech in the standard version that to build a whole
another tech-build-Blastoise. What I want to emphasize, is that, the more you
have different attackers in your deck, the more you want to have SSUs in your
deck to help to rearrange the energy on your attackers. 13 energy isn’t a lot
even with Super Rod and Energy Retrieval, so you must be very careful when
placing energy on your attackers.

Conclusion

I believe that Blastoise variants will get fairly
popular in the upcoming City Championships. However, I wouldn’t say that
Blastoise is a tier1 variant, but it will be pretty big in Cities. The success
of Blastoise is connected to the popularity of Landorus EX decks. The more
popular Landorus EX is, the better Blastoise variants will be. That’s why think
that Blastoise won’t see its peak just yet, but after Ether is released and
Landorus EX becomes a very serious contender for the spot of BDIF.

The golden-age of Blastoise is yet to come, but the deck is fun and brings some
change for the metagame. Not to mention it’s a stage2 deck, which is still a
rare breed in the current format. Cities and international Regionals will start
soon, so the question is: is your deck Blastoise-proof?

Keegan Pd1: I especially mention Skyla in the spread build since I want to add consistency to get stage2 Pokémon... But I don't think Skyla is necessary in the standard build since you only need to get 1 Candy in the early game.

Anonymous1: I'm not sure if Dragon Vault is allowed in International Regionals (I presume so), but it's legal in the U.S. Cities, or am I wrong about that too, hmh?

Anonymous2: I don't like Musharna, because the deck already has space issues. However, Tropical Beach seems like a good idea. Especially if you run Skylas in your deck. However, Tropical Beach always takes one turn from you, so I don't know how good it's in this format, because the format is SO fast.

Anonymous3: Hmm, I was going to write about Terrakion, but I guess I somehow forgot it, rofl. I'll add it now, thanks for the reminder!

Skyla and its reasoning is especially mentioned in the spread build and reasoning behind, so I don't think there was any reason to say the same thing two times. Also, I focused on the Pokémon techs, not really on the trainers. Not to mention that Energy Retrieval is in the spread list as well, so I didn't find it worth mentioning in the techs. As for DCE, what is it for?

i have been playing around with the dusknoir build and it is good fun. i also play only 2 catchers in it. i found bouffalant is great in this deck - hit for 120, next turn spread 60 to something else and get the ko with bouff. kyruem can be played around by limiting bench. this opens up the use for DCE too. also ended up dropping 2 ditto for a 2-0-2 dusknoir line. it is a hard choice for opponents to ko duskull when there are loaded attackers on the board.beach is also good in this deck i have found.cheers for the article!

I guess I'm wondering why there was talk of Mewtwo EX, but no Mew EX. Using Keldeo's attack to deal 110 for 3 energy, or using X-ball for 60 for the same 3 energy doesn't leave me to believe Mewtwo is as good as Mew.

Anonymous1: Yeah, the spread version is probably the most enjoyable to play with it, but it has some serious space issues just like you said. Hmm, maybe I should give Beach a try in this deck, even though I dislike the card in general in the current format.

Theo Seeds: Rofl, true. I guess that's the only real situation where it matters, but attacking with Hydreigon is always VERY risky. Especially against a deck like this that can OHKO anything. I don't think you want to attack with Hydreigon against Keldeo EX even if you have the opportunity to KO. The cost you may need to pay for getting your Hydreigon KOed, may be a lot more than the 2 prizes you get from Keldeo EX.

Anonymous2: The reason why I decided to dismiss Mew EX here was, because of its too low HP. You don't want to attach 2-4 energy to a Pokémon that will be OHKOed as soon as your opponetn attacks. This deck's resources are limited and sacrificing energy and 2 prizes for a Mew EX just aren't worth it. Mewtwo EX is so much better in this deck, because the only card that is able to OHKO it, is another Mewtwo EX(or an Mew EX). Just like Joseph said.

kjpk prn: Haha, yeah, of course there are situations where the 10 HP does matter. Every 10 HP makes a difference in this game, but in the most general situations the 10 damage rarely does the difference. Of course Keldeo EX would be better with 180 HP, but the fact is that it doesn't have 180 HP and it isn't a HUGE loss.

Hey Esa, do you think it's an appropiate tactic to go for KO'ing the Blastoise? One thing I always did in the last format was build night spear damage on the hyrdeigon, then go for the catcher KO. Do you think the same would be fore Blastoise, or just focus on taking out the attackers?

Anonymous: The strategy to KO Blastoises is always risky. If your opponent has enough resources to get Blastoise after an another to play, you'll lose very quickly, but if you're able to take down their first Blastoise quickly and they can't get up another, you'll have a chance of winning. But the problem with KOing Blastoise strategy is that you don't know your opponent's hand, so it's always gamble to target down Blastoises.

PokeRods: I believe that the success behind Blastoise/Keldeo in Japan is the Virbank City Gym + Poison Hypnotic Beam combo that is everywhere. Keldeo EX heals the Special Condition, which gives its an edge over any other EX Pokémon in the format. It was a meta call and it will probably once again shift around again in the next tournaments.

Thanks for the writeup on this. I have been looking for something that actually talks about the interactions between the cards and why each one is or isn't effective. Folks may want to tweak this or that card choice, but the framework you present is solid.

Just wondering, why aren't you including Energy Retrieval in your standard build, and just once in the others? I've been trying to run it 2 or 3 times, with a list that actually resembles yours. There's a flaw somewhere, but I can't pinpoint what it is.

Anonymous2: Yeah, I added the most recent version of Blastoise/Keldeo EX to the Decklist Out update, it seemed that Tropical Beach was far more than necessary in order to get the deck working well.

Anonymous3: Energy Retrieval amounts depend on how many Basic energy you run. I believe that the most used variant is 12 Water and 2 Energy Retrievals, but I like to keep things more consistent in the early game by playing 14 Water Energy since you don't always have Water energy in your discard pile in the early came. And the list vary, because there is no point of just providing you 3 same builds, everyone has to find the most suitable variant for themselves and my article's job is to help players find a variant,which fits to them the best.

im currently trying a blastoise/sammurott variant i seems ok for 3 [W] energys i deal 100 damage , the deck has proved itself quite quickly for me so i continue building and am entering citie with it in febuary